Search form

Climate adaptation priority for county

In 2015 Benton County Health Services staff completed a long-term Benton County Climate Change Health Adaptation Plan. While the title includes the word ‘Plan’, the document is more of a comprehensive assessment of the human health and environmental impacts resulting from projected climate change within Benton County and the surrounding region. Major impacts identified from the assessment include increased chances of:

Following this initial planning document, Benton County established a Climate Action Committee late last year. Staff membership ranges multiple departments including Assessment, Information Technology, Records, Natural Areas and Parks, Public Works, Human Resources, and the Sheriff’s Office. The committee is co-chaired by Sean McGuire, county Sustainability Coordinator, and Mac Gillespie, policy specialist based in the Healthy Communities division of the Health Department.

“We’re making sure that our effort engages with all populations within Benton County by involving all County departments in the planning process,” said Gillespie.

“Because we’re committed to meeting the health needs of all our communities, we needed to start by gathering additional data.”

The first charge for this committee was focused on internal assessment, research and establishing foundational data. For each of the major climate change impacts, the committee worked to identify: threats, triggers and responses; pre-climate change impact mitigation actions; potential budget, economic, social, environmental and human health effects; and, related County resolutions, official policies and administrative policies, codes and ordinances, departmental programs and plans, and, informal processes that guide actions.

The next charge for the committee is to establish a mechanism to track internal resource use. The committee is working to establish a digital interface that tracks countywide resource use of electricity, fuel, water and natural gas. This tool is slated to be launched later this year and will provide usage data from 2010 to 2017 in a graphical user interface.

“Our hope is that this tool will provide an easy-to-use method to track and analyze the county’s progress towards carbon reduction,” said Sean McGuire, county Sustainability Coordinator.

“The committee began with an assessment phase, and this tool will provide the information we need to work towards establishing and achieving countywide carbon reduction goals.”

The third Oregon Climate Assessment Report published by the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute in January 2017 shows Oregon continuing to experience more extreme weather events and confirmed that the health of Oregonians is threatened. In the past two years, Oregon has seen its hottest year on record and its lowest snowpack on record, followed by the heavy snows this past winter. Last year, the state had one of the most severe fire seasons in modern history and most counties declared drought emergencies.

A recent assessment of Oregon’s public health system found that county health departments are not currently equipped to handle these emerging environmental public health risks. The vast majority of local health departments report only partial to minimal ability to identify and prevent environmental health hazards. To help address that gap, Benton County Health Services is part of a collaborative of local and state public health departments working on modernizing the public health system to respond to 21st century threats including climate change.

County staff has begun work to mitigate impacts of extreme precipitation and flooding on vulnerable populations. For instance, storms and floods cause serious emergencies and injuries, but even months and years later people may remain displaced, experience economic hardship, or be exposed to poor indoor air quality due to toxic mold and mildew.

Drought, floods, and other climate conditions pose new risks in the form of water contamination, water-borne diseases, and harmful algae blooms. Health officials are concerned about drinking water security. Around a quarter of Oregonians rely on private wells as their primary source of drinking water.

“We know to take actions to mitigate, extreme precipitation and flooding is likely to have the greatest impact on low-income individuals and families who tend to live in the most vulnerable locations,” said Charlie Fautin, Deputy Director of the Benton County Health Department.

“The greatest immediate health impact is likely to result from contamination of drinkable water, due to sewage overflow, and agricultural runoff. Individual and small community well water systems are often also susceptible to flooding events. Flood waters will easily penetrate and contaminate systems with E. coli, spilled fuel or other toxins, and other contaminants.”

Contaminated water systems could result in widespread disease outbreaks, further overburdening emergency response systems. Further, this contamination may cause water system shutdowns until flooding has decreased enough for proper cleaning and restoration. Service interruptions could last days or weeks, thus decreasing the access to clean water to areas throughout Benton County.

A video produced by the Oregon Public Health Division further discusses how Benton County is responding to climate change.

Just this past February, the Oregon Health Authority released the 2017 Climate and Health Resilience Plan that outlines a set of recommended strategies for the Oregon Public Health Division, local and tribal health jurisdictions and partners across sectors. Community members interested in taking action can learn to be “change agents” in their respective workplaces, neighborhoods and communities. The plan emphasizes the importance of strengthening relationships and prioritizing strategies that benefit multiple partners or advance multiple goals. Some of these actions may include helping others prepare for more extreme weather events and getting involved in community decisions that affect water quality and security.

Benton County will continue to advance climate adaptation work not only through its Climate Action Committee, but through other departmental plans and initiatives.

“We know that in order to take actions to mitigate impacts from climate change, we need to approach sustainability practices from economic, environmental and social lenses,” said Annabelle Jaramillo, County Commissioner.

“We’re beginning or undergoing many planning efforts, including the Community Health Assessment and the Transportation System Plan. We are working actively to ensure our countywide plans use a systemslevel approach that considers climate change and human health impacts. The health of the people that live, work and play in our county, and the natural resources that make Benton County so unique are top priority.”

The 2015 Climate Change Health Adaptation Plan identified health impacts that are most likely to occur due to climate change within Benton County over the next 40 years. Projecting changes 40 years ahead allows the county to predict and monitor trends so leadership can plan accordingly and allocate appropriate resources for the predicted changes.